Invictimus

This is an adaptation of "Invictus", by William Henley, that I worked up for the Survivor's Prayer Quilt.

"Invictus" is Latin, meaning "unconquered". I am an unconquered victim, meaning I am a survivor.

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank my God, whom I know to be
For my unconquerable soul.


In the fell clutch of circumstance
I may have winced or cried aloud.
Yet under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.


Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms more than the Horror of the shade,
And so the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.


It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.